What does a book lover do on National Book Lovers Day? Here’s a list of possibilities.
Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day are often confused and it’s frustrating that it perpetuates even with the gentle reminders. Inspired by today’s honoring the fallen I wanted to highlight several military stories that feature the death of soldiers both fictional and true.
When Sheets, published by creator Brenna Thummler, dropped in 2018, I read it and enjoyed it. When its sequel, Delicates, dropped in 2021, I read it and was moved by it. Then the last of the trilogy, Lights, dropped in 2023 and not only did I read it, I read it from an advanced copy and completely melted. But maybe that’s not the right analogy with a series full of ghosts. I was levitating.
To be brief: the series follows lonely Marjorie, a motherless girl being raised by her dad running a laundromat where ghost friends including Wendell live. Making friends is a struggle and when Eliza and Marjorie pair up as oddball friends, there’s the sweetest sense that they’ve found someone special. But teenagers are fickle creatures and school is hard. The characters drive the story but equally evocative is the carefully selected color palette enhancing every scene. Feelings are felt among every panel and page because of the skilling coloring and illustrations.
Those feelings were no different when I figured out a way to drive nearly six hours from home for the last of only three staged musical readings of Delicates at Dramashop in Erie, PA. My only regret is that I didn’t bring my teenaged sons to see it with me. Not only would they have admired the talent of the cast (so, so much talent) but the skilled storytelling and the whimsical use of the small set and props. The experience of watching the pianist play right in front of the audience and the intimate setting of being so close to the stage with the lights the same colors as the colors in the graphic novels felt like a warm hug. Layered with raw emotions like Marjorie’s loneliness or Eliza being bullied while her helpless dad tries to help are turned upside down when the audience can’t help but laugh at the catty popular girls’ snarky comments and Marjorie’s little sibling. In two hours, everyone relived their youth. It was all laid bare through Thummler’s story.
Of course only one thing could top the night, but I made sure in advance that there would be a cherry on this sundae and that was the presence of the creator, Brenna Thummler herself. Wearing a fabulously fantastic pink jumpsuit with a vivid backpack, she had her pastel Sharpies ready to sign the books I brought only after she wiped away the tears of love and gratitude for the cast and crew to bring life to her stories on stage. She was being gifted items from fans and friends after giving us all the greatest gift to see it live.
I wish I was here to give you a gushing event recap of our author visit today, but instead, I’m going to share a reminder that there are things that are out of our control and we have to roll with them. Yesterday, life had other plans instead of an author visit.
With an unfortunate medical emergency, our author’s relative reached out that they were not able to be at our school and that when better, would reschedule. It was a hard hit after all as the last few details had been put in place including the event setup of chairs from our maintenance staff and school secretary making the 15-minute reminder announcements for students to head to the library.
It might be a dirty word in education, the word “pivot”, but that’s exactly what happened. We pivoted. We still had the students who were invited to the special-invitation lunch down to talk about their books and reading in general because the food had been pre-ordered. We reopened the library. Students still came to grab the books. Staff and students came to express their sadness and disappointment. We told them that the option to reschedule will be our next big announcement and we’ll welcome the author back since so many students had been reading the books or were excited about meeting an author even if their classes weren’t and they were reading them independently. It still stings just a little. Yet it was out of our control entirely.
I suppose at our fifteenth in-person author visit, maybe there’s a statistical probably that it would happen. Life happens. It gets in the way of carefully laid plans. We pivot.
Look for a new post in the next few months where we celebrate the coming of our author, we know we’ll be ready!
What does a school librarian whose love language is baking desserts do on the eve of an author visit?
Bake.
We’ll have an invite-only lunch with a small group of students nominated by their teachers to attend. While the fare is typical for teens– pizza and a salad– I wanted to add a homemade treat. But because I couldn’t decide on chocolate chip cookies, brownies, or Oreos, I found a recipe in which the cupcake includes all three. Win, win, win.
I’ll fangirl about our author, students, and activities tomorrow….
Monday was the Youth Media Awards presentation in Baltimore, Maryland at the American Library Association’s LibLearnX (midwinter) conference. It is the yearly celebration of literature for children and teens. Committees work for a year or more to choose award winners in categories from the Sibert to Giesel to Odyssey to Alex. Don’t know what each of them is about? You can learn more on the website including watching the award ceremony or reading the press release for all of the honorees and winners.
I had the honor of being on the Alex Award through YALSA this year which meant we were reading loads of adult titles to find the best titles that have teen appeal. We create a top ten and will have a long list of an additional twenty titles. The long list will be published shortly. This meant that the ALA conference was extra special in being able to bond in person with most of the committee members (including sharing a meal while we made author calls followed by a champagne toast). Yet it’s also about learning. Over three days of programming, I learned a tremendous amount from librarians across the country whether it was in conversations, presentations, or in line. And there were the unique and inspiring speeches of the recipients of the I Love My Librarian award that kickstarted the event on Friday night amid a Baltimore surprise– snow!
While the librarian awards began the conference, the book awards ended the conference with the best bookends anyone could ask for. Sitting in the seats reserved for the committee, you’re surrounded by the other committees with their fun accessories (looking at you Odyssey with your matching white headphones) and cool slogans (read: “For the weird ones” on the back of the Printz tshirts) but I thought our Alex shirts, designed by a committee member and executed by another, were a cut above. Switching out the laurel for hot peppers, the tag line was “is this too spicy?” *chef’s kiss*
Whether watchers or listeners were in the room or across the country watching online, you could feels the vibrations of cheers near and far. It’s a special moment for the creators of these amazing stories. Without them, there would be no celebration. There’s a cacophony of excitement from their publishers and editors, their family, and anyone who read and loved their work.
It’s a magical, magical event. If you have the chance to be there live, do it. Or, you can be like one of my favorite colleagues and rally your elementary school in the gymnasium with their socks, and shirts, and posters rooting on their favorites several states away. Either way, cheers were heard near and far.
About this time, the tags for book trees (a lit up tree made from books) or Jolabokaflod, the Icelandic book flood, come fast and furious. As they should because they’re traditions just like building a gingerbread house is for my family and making pierogies on Christmas Eve.
As for book traditions, there is one that I’ve done for years. On the last day of school, I take our boys to the indie bookstore and let them buy whatever they want– they’re reasonable and bookish, so it all works out. It’s a way to celebrate another school year gone by and usher in summer reading outside.
I have a tradition for the end of one year and the beginning of another. It’s simple but ‘a thing’. By December I’ve usually picked my last book of the year and the first book I’ll read in the new year– usually to end and begin on a high note– selecting a type of book that I traditionally enjoy or have heard all good things about.
And while I don’t have one for the winter itself as a family, I might try to build a tradition in the vein of Jolabokaflod though it’s complicated by the fact that we are at family’s on Christmas Eve. But it can be whatever we make it. I think I’ll take some recommendations over the next month and see what we come up with.
Any suggestions?
Our library system ran an expedition, the second iteration in a handful of years to promote all of the thirty-six libraries in the system. After the expedition finished, they did a Library Love event to bring the libraries back together, give out some awards, provide recognition for the staff who put the activity together, and allow fellow library lovers a chance to have fun and connect.
At the event, the staff had a station where you could pose with the dollar amount you saved by borrowing from the library using a standard dollar amount per book, but that didn’t include your digital borrowing.
I know I read a lot of books, so to know that I have the public library, in addition to my job as a school librarian, saves me quite a lot of money. In this photo from September, my borrowing totaled over $42,000. That’s a car. It’s a salary. It’s a lot of groceries (well not as much anymore).
I know there are libraries whose digital borrowing receipts include “you saved X dollars by borrowing these items”, which I also love.
We should continue to celebrate what public libraries do from hosting events and community gatherings, to still the thing as old as time– lending books. Thank you to people like Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Carnegie, all the librarians and library staff, and communities that support their libraries!
I don’t have a crystal ball and I don’t have visions, but I do have my friend and co-presenter Stacey, dozens of books read, and lists to forecast for the upcoming Youth Media Awards.
Last night I spent several hours with librarians, reading teachers, and other specialists talking about the Youth Media Awards and putting together predictions. It included a Kahoot to open, a break for dinner, then a K-12 discussion of books to put on our radars or preliminary thoughts of titles that have been read from the group. It was a good, bookish night that even after a day of work is uplifting and enriching.
We’ll follow up virtually in January to discuss the winners, honors, and losers.
What’s on your list?
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Readers Be Advised 